[1098] 
faking notice of Diophantus (oy any other Greel^ Author j 
whoitfeemswas not known herein thofe days. 
After him ioWov^^diStiphelius (a good Author J and o- 
thers by him cited, who alio proceed no farther than 
Afterwards Scipio Ferreus^ Cardan^ Tartalea, and o- 
therSjproceeded to theSolution of(fome)fi^^/^:>^Equatioiis. 
And Bombelli goes yet farther, and ftiews how to reduce 
a5/5'//^i^r/3^/ir/^Equation (by thehelp oi a.C^^^V^) to two 
And Non?iius or Nunne:(^ (in Spamjh;) l{amus, Schone* 
rus, Salignacus^ f/^^Ji/i^^j', and others, (in Latine^)l^cordi 
Digs, and fome others of our own, {in Englijh s) did (in 
the laft CenturyJ purfue the lame Subjed; in different 
ways; bnt ffor the moft part) proceeded no farther than 
^mdratick^ Equations. 
In the mean time, Diophantusy firft by Xylander (in 
Latin) and afterwards by ^^a^rZ'^^^j' (in Gr^^>^ and' L^^^;^^ 
was made publick ; whole method differs much from 
that ot the Arabs ('whom thofeothers followed,) and par- 
ticularly in the order of denominating the Powers j as 
taking no notice oi Surjolids, but ufing only the names 
of^y^^^^r^ andt>^^^, with the Compounds of thefe. 
And hitherto no other than the unknown Quantities 
were wont to be denoted in Algebra by particular Notes 
or Symbols; but, the known Quantities, by the ordina- 
ry Numeral Figures. , 
The next great ftep, for the improvement of v^i^^^r^g?, 
was t\\^toi Specious Arithmetick^ firft introduced by Viet a 
about the Year I J5) 0. 
This Specious Arithmeticl^ which gives Notes or iSy/??'- 
hoh (which he calls Species) to Quantities both known 
and unkiiown, doth ("without altering the manner of 
demonftration, as to the fubftance,; furnifii us with a 
fliort and couveniejat. way of Notation ;. whereby the 
whole: 
